Interview with Castle Freak

Here's another This Is Hardcore interview for ya, this time it was done at the A389 aftershow (Which I couldn't get into on account of not being 21) with the soon to be legendary Castle Freak. This is one of the most fun interviews I've done in a good long while, but though it's silly I feel like we cover a lot of good topics here. From 14 year old girls and sluts to HP Lovecraft Castle Freak have it all. If you want Repulsion styled old school death metal that will rip your face off, you have to look no further than the magic of this band.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/CastleFreakPhilly

What defines the Castle Freak live experience?

Andy (A): It varies from show to show, it really depends on whose in the crowd. If people know our songs and stuff they usually go wild. 

Dylan (D): If it's a basement show I'll go in on the cool mosh parts and hit them with my bass. 

A: It ranges from very wild to very nothing, our reactions are all over the board. 

You're still at a point where you can play to 200 kids or 10. 

A: It's definitely a sliding scale.

From what I've gotten talking to Zak and everyone, you seem almost a little bit silly. 

D: We're silly guys, but we play serious rock and roll. 

A: As people we have a good sense of humor, there is no bar too high for us to climb over with our humor. I try to keep the writing serious, and when we play live it's serious. The banter is almost always bullshit silliness though. Zak is a little bit sillier than the rest of us because he's like 16.

Z: I'm 21, just to put that on the record. Just because I don't drink doesn't mean I'm not 21.

A: I don't drink either.

D: I'm drunk as hell.

Z: I don't write the lyrics either but I think the lyrical content comes from a lot of 80s B-horror movies which are silly. The lyrics themselves aren't goofy.

D: It's very serious, its about death.

Z: And destruction

A: Only death is real. 

Z: Death, destruction, insanity, those things.

Where does the name Castle Freak come from? 

A: Okay, here's the story. Everyone thinks we got the name Castle Freak from the movie Castle Freak. Actually, me and Frank from Cave of Bats started Castle Freak as a recording project. He proposed the name and I said, okay, whatever, fuck it. It's literally just a name.

D: But there is a movie called Castle Freak based on the HP Lovecraft story called The Outsider, it's really good you should read it.

A: Same director and actors from The Reanimator, another HP Lovecraft film. 

Is Lovecraftian horror the kind of thing you want to invoke with your sound, and not just your lyrics?

A: Not particularly. That's more Dylan's Angelcrust kind of thing. Like Zak said we are pretty much all about cheesy 80s movies.

Are you trying to be a revival type deal or are you trying to push the envelope?

A: I think Castle Freak is almost its own entity now because a lot of people are like "Oh it's like Repulsion and Carnivore" but we take influences from all over the board. We've got grind and D-beat and death metal of course. Death metal is the main tier hear. 

Z: We've got a lot of melodic punk parts too. Terrorizer is a big influence, especially on the new stuff I've been writing. 

A: It is kind of all over the place.

The new stuff, tell me about that. 

Z: We've got a new tape out on Tridroid Records, it's called Still Rotting. It's pretty cool. Andrew at Tridroid is a good dude.

A: It's an extension of the old stuff with slightly better quality and I think our riffs have progressed a little bit, a continuation.

Do you have a larger goal, or a tour?

A: We've talked about touring, touring is difficult because we don't have a touring van right now. We're talking about putting out a split soon with either Manic Scum or Haunting from Atlanta. We have a live tape coming out also. That should be out any week now.

Z: We were trying to have it out for this show but there were financial issues.

A: Our other plan is we're working towards a full length, hopefully in the 18-20 song range. Our songs are real short so it's going to take a while to write. That's one of our long term goals right now.

You guys are all Philadelphia natives?

A: Dylan's Philadelphia, me and Zak are from the suburbs. I'm from Ardmore, Pennsylvania. 

Z: Born in New Jersey raised in Pennsylvania.

Where?

Z: I was raised in Springfield then Media. You're not going to use that I'm sure. 

Do you think being in Southeast PA has impacted your sound?

A: Definitely not our sound. A lot of the bands around here are very traditional in what they do, we're not so traditional. To a degree you are a product of your surroundings though. There's a huge punk scene too, it's more punk than metal right now. Even the metal bands, like us, take influence from punk. We're really into crust and d-beat.

I want you to finish this sentence for me "I've never told this story before and probably shouldn't but..."

D: My buddy face-fucked a girl and she killed herself two days later. That's a true story, no bullshit.

Z: My buddy was fucking a girl in her ass and pissed in her asshole.

D: Jesus dude.... Can we plug our other bands?

Sure.

D: Cape of Bats, Krieg, Slutlust, Angel Crust, Esoterica, check them the fuck out.

A: We're in all the same bands.

What do you love so much about music?

A: I fucking hate music. 

D: I like rock and roll and rock and roll started with Chuck Berry. He fucked fourteen year old girls and did a bunch of drugs, and that's basically the main influence on my life.

A: I like that you can have pretty much limitless range and it can be great or it can be shit, but people care anyway.

D: The sluts too dude.

A: Sluts. 

Any last words of wisdom or final comments?

D: Fuck you, kill yourself. 

A: All you gotta do is believe. B-O-Lieve.